The Prophecy
Highgriffon was waking up, the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, turning the sea into a plate of bronze waves. While the merchants and labourers in the low-town rose from their slumbers, high above in the towers of the Highgriffon university the enlightened of the realm were scurrying with activity. Geerjit Salar hurried to the divinator's chamber. Something had happened during the night and nearly all the senior sorcerors had been summoned. He rushed along the tiled causeway, through a glass lined corridor high above the streets. The view was spectacular, he could almost believe the sea had turned to gold. He could take no time to savour the view. The Divinator had been meditating for weeks. Now, somehting had occured. Along the way he met a colleague, Senior Majarch Sirlat Kha'ren. he seemed as distressed as Geerjit felt. Are you heading to the summons? he asked Geerjit, falling into step with him. Yes. Did they tell you anything? They explained nothing to me Nor I. All I know the Divinator has fallen of some ill last night. The two made their way through the halls and corridors of the building to the suite of the Divinator. They entered and found other Majarchs, the Arch Chancellor himself was there. What's going on? they asked him. The Arch Chancellor turned to them, his face was concerned. 'I will explain when everyone has arrived.' The two of them nodded and took their place among those already present. Gradually in ones and twos everyone made it to the room. The arch chancellor bade the door be closed. Heavy timber doors laden with the mad inscriptions of the Divinator creaked shut, sealing them in. Once the doors had shut, the Arch Chancellor turned to those present. 'I have gathered you here, because the divinator has had a vision.' He gestured to the far end of the room where the Divinator sat. He was rocking gently back and forth. Two aides were on either side trying to calm him. The Arch-Chancellor turned back to the summoned Hedgehogs. ' This morning he woke up half mad. We have calmed him down as much as we can. He will share with us his vision.' 'Divinator?' The group turned to the Divinator, who twitched and looked up at the Arch-Chancellor. His voice on the verge of hysteria. 'They come. . .they come from ruin! From catastrophe! Black and white, light and dark they come. I have seen the spires of Highgriffon in flames. . .and they will burn on their approach. They will sweep us away in their coming.' He shook his head. But that is not the worst. Highgriffon and its cities may burn to dust but, . . . it is the mist, the fog, the haze of the mind that cripples my sight. They cannot be seen. Even I have not seen them, only half glimpses in a faded memory. The sun seen through a cloud. They will make it here. and we will fall don't you see? Around the room the group shuffled uncomfortably. Prophecies of doom and destruction were common among those who delved into futuresight, but never by one so gifted and trained in deciphering the threads of the future. 'Our doom has been coming, it has been for centuries. Since the dark times and the Schism of Madness. That was their calling! All of it, we have been blind, but then we cannot see what cannot be seen.' 'They are so cold, so old. They are ancient and unyielding. Even as I glimpsed this vision I saw the one who is all three. I glimpsed his power and he saw me. He noticed me! Through my own vision HE saw ME. He looked at me with those eyes. I glad to say I forget what I saw in those eyes or else my mind would have been shattered. His intellect is unknowable, his prowess unreachable, his aims. . .unthinkable.' 'His brothers too! Not alone he comes, but with his kin! Those titans of old. All that remain. 555 . . . 555. . . 555 That is their number, their grief and their burden. . .'